Chapter 4: Crossing Paths

After leaving the Wolf Clan Territory, Lily went to the Dragon Academy, furthering her education in botany and herbology, having gained worldly experience in the last six years. Traveling to the DragoClans territory to research more on various medical he, Lily witnessed a couple of skirmishes on the way to the capital city. She came away unscathed. One of which she had found herself mixed up in by mistake because she was a foreigner. An innocent village was almost made her fault, as it had been massacred with no one left alive, just as she came upon the scene. She saw a group of Darkling Dragons savagely rampaging through the village, killing the remainder of the villagers before high-tailing it up the mountain. What once looked to be a peaceful village is now burnt to nothing but ash in the wind. Lily turned to see a squad of soldiers with their commander quickly come upon her, a group tackling her to the ground and then tying Lily up, forcing her to kneel at the Commander's feet. "What happened here? How are you the only one alive?!" The soldier closest pushed her hard, Lily's face hitting the ground while they went through her travel pack. "Hey! I just walked up on this! I saw a group of black dragons that were attacking here! If you hurry, they are on the other side of the village. They just ran up the mountains just a moment ago. If you hurry, you'll catch them!" She exclaimed, looking over to see the face of the commander up close. Her heart stuttered for a moment, unexpectedly feeling something towards this man. "You three! Head towards the mountains, and see if they made their escape that way. You just walked up, and it was all burnt down. Why were you traveling to this village?" The command was suspicious of her appearance there. Lily found that he was surprisingly handsome for someone so stoic with deep blue hair, matching eyes, and built for a fight. Dimitri watched her as the soldiers continued going through her things; his dragon began stirring, which was something that never happened. Curious about the woman, he observes her more, taking in her form, just as she yells at one of the soldiers, pulling out a ratty old book. "Don't touch that!" Walking over, he grabs the book, looking through its contents, and sees what the contents are. "Studying plants?" "Yes." "Let her go." Untying the woman rubbed as she rubbed her wrists and picked up her thing, repacking the bag. Carefully closing the book, he placed it back in the pack with the rest of her things as she finished tying the pack up. The scouts came back to make their report. "Fresh tracks are leading up the mountains, but a thunderstorm is about to hit we won't be able to go after them with their scents being washed away." "Well, it seems you were telling me the truth. So tell me this, what's a she-wolf like you doing in a place like this? The village wasn't well known and is in a very secluded area." Dimitri released her, reaching his hand out to help her up. "I'm not a she-wolf, and there's a rare flower in the mountains north of here that only blooms in the worst of storms. As I had hoped to get there before the storm started, but with this happening, I'll have to come back some other time." Lily ignored his hand, standing on her own, then checked her pack one more time. Turning around, Dimitri was talking to his next in command, "It doesn't seem like you were a part of this, and you have no blood on you as well. So for now, you are free to go. I will have one of my men escort you to the edge of the village so you can continue with your research." About to leave, she turns to the soldiers, saying, "Next time you go around tackling people, maybe chase the real criminals, not innocent bystanders." Lily continues on her way, hoping she won't miss the Lumus flower blooming. One of his men walked with her, making sure she left the village the way she was supposed to. Never having gotten her name, he yelled out, making her stop. "Wait! I didn't get your name." Dimitri wanted to know the sassy woman's name who made his dragon rumble. "That's right, you didn't! Peace!" The woman answered, waving him off as she headed out of the village. Dimitri found her fascinating, wanting to know more about her. It had seemed strange how those dragons had a glowing aura around them that didn't seem their own. And those eyes looked as though someone else was seeing through them. Dimitri wondered if what he had seen had something to do with her. Choosing to follow him, Dimitri wanted to know for sure if her words were true. Turning to his second in command, nd he gave orders to continue the investigation. "Check everywhere thoroughly. I want to know what happened and why this village was targeted. This place is a sacred village, and bandits attacking it for no real reason is strange here." "Yes, my Prince." Still suspicious of the woman, he followed her scent to see if she was here to study plants, or so he told himself. Keeping to the sh, making sure she wouldn't s, ee him, Himimitri kept having to reel his dragon in as it felt like he was hunting something or someone he wanted.